With Jackie Bradley Jr. Leading The Way, Red Sox Score 40 Runs In Three-Game Sweep Of A's
Still waiting on that apocalyptic event. On Wednesday night, the Red Sox continued to bash in the collective brains of the Oakland A’s to complete the three-game sweep at Fenway Park.
As a team, the Red Sox hit .403 with an 1.164 OPS in the series with 13 doubles, 8 home runs and 48 hits. Oh, and they scored 40 runs. FORTY! In three games. I feel like this Red Sox offense is going to have to break records for the “They haven’t played anybody good” crowd to finally pipe down. Guess what? You know that team that everyone is blowing their load over this year? The Chicago Cubs? Heard of ‘em? Yeah, the Red Sox just tied them for the most runs scored in the MLB last night. The Red Sox haven’t played anybody good, though! Jury’s still out! Fuck outta here.
By the way, that was the first time the Red Sox have scored at least 13 runs in three consecutive games in team history. It was a historical ass beating. Speaking of historical ass beatings, Joe DiMaggio is shaking in his grave right now, because Jackie Bradley Jr. isn’t just coming for his 56-game hitting streak, he’s mashing his way to his 56-game hitting streak. Bradley extended his hitting streak to 17 games (30% of the way there), by going 3-for-5 with two home runs, and 6 RBIs. Our daily update of what he’s doing over his hitting streak: he’s batting .406 with a 1.309 OPS, 6 homers, 5 doubles, 3 triples, and 24 RBIs. Bananas.
And the thing about Bradley is that I honestly do understand where the skeptics are coming from. I see that the larger sample size is nothing close to what he’s been doing this season. However, you also need to recognize that he’s hit at every level he’s ever played at. He hit .349 and .368 in his first two years of college, he hit .315 with a .911 OPS between Single-A and Double-A, and he hit .305 with an .853 OPS in Triple-A last year. Sure, he’s had his struggles at the major league level, but what if he’s simply just figured it out, just as he has done at every other level he’s ever played at? And the other thing that people fail to realize about Bradley is that this goes beyond a 17-game hitting streak. Over his last 83 games, he’s hitting .306 with a .979 OPS, 15 home runs, 25 doubles, 8 triples, and 67 RBIs.
You know Bradley’s killing it when he’s been getting most of the love, while the entire offense as a whole has been murdering the ball. Dustin Pedroia sent his sixth home run of the season into the Monster seats, which was also his third home run in his last seven games. Through his first 33 games of the season, Pedroia has a .500 slugging percentage, which if the season ended today, it would be the highest slugging percentage of his career.
Lost in all of the offense is how well Rick Porcello continues to pitch. He’s been pitching so well lately that 3 earned runs against the Athletics is considered somewhat of a hiccup, when last year that would’ve been considered a masterpiece. We’ve come a long way in regards to our expectations when Pretty Ricky’s on the mound, and that’s a good thing to be somewhat disappointed when he gives up three runs. That being said, the streak goes on. He’s thrown six consecutive quality starts, and it’s his 15th consecutive start throwing at least 6 innings, which is the longest active streak in the majors.
With the win, the Red Sox improve to 21-13, which is where they were through their first 34 games in 2013. Just sayin’. They’ve won 13 of their last 17 games, and outscored their opponents 113-63 in that 17-game span.
Final score: Red Sox 13, Athletics 3